


Holding On to You

by TheLifeTheFife



Category: The Bold Type
Genre: F/F, Kadena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 06:23:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11503590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLifeTheFife/pseuds/TheLifeTheFife
Summary: After Adena's breakup with her girlfriend, Kat goes over to her apartment to help. However, is Kat prepared for what Adena is really upset about?





	Holding On to You

“Hey,” Adena’s voice came strangled through the phone.

            Kat shoved up a hand to silence Sutton and Jane, chattering on about some new bar. “Adena, hey, what’s wrong?”

            “A lot of stuff.” Her voice warbled, making Kat’s stomach clench. “Any chance you can come over tonight? Watch a movie or something?”

            “I get off in fifteen. Is that good?”

            There was a pause on the other end, Adena nodding her head before she remembered that Kat couldn’t see her. “Yeah, yeah.

            Sutton raised an eyebrow. “What was that about?”

            “I don’t know. She sounded really upset.”

            “And, um Kat,” Jane stood eyebrow quirked, “you know you get off in _an hour_ and fifteen, right?”

            “I know, but she sounded so upset, and I didn’t want to make her wait and—”

            “Go,” Sutton rolled her eyes, knowing just how deep her friend was falling. “I’ll cover for you.”

            Kat sagged with relief. “Thank you. Thank you, I owe you one.”

            Walking as fast as she could without drawing attention, Kat tried not to let her mind race. _What was wrong? Why did she call me? Surely she had other friends she had known a lot longer?_ But the questions didn’t really get her anywhere as raced to the elevator.

 

Adena opened the door to her apartment with blotchy cheeks and a watery smile. “You came.”

            “Of course I came,” Kat answered. Like she had been physically able to do anything else?

            As she stepped into the apartment, Kat tried not to stare at the photographs covering nearly every available surface. Most were like the ones Adena showed at galleries, but others, pictures of family, nature, things Kat didn’t recognize all pulled at her attention. If she saw enough of her pictures would she be able to understand Adena?

            But a TV playing a movie in a foreign language drowned out her thoughts, with an empty ice cream carton on the low table in front of it, half covered with a rumbled blanket. How many times had, she, Sutton, and Jane sat there doing the same thing?

            Without thinking, Kat asked, “Breakup? Sorry! Sorry, that was really—I shouldn’t have—are you okay?”

            “It’s okay,” Adena sank into back into the couch. Kat followed, measuring out the space between them. “You are not wrong.”

            Kat sagged. A tiny, but selfish, _selfish_ , part of her soared to hear it. But then she remembered the Ben and Jerry’s, the sappy movie, and the dried-up streaks down Adena’s cheeks and she silently hated herself. Adena was hurt, she couldn’t be excited about that.

            “But I did not call you about that.” Adena scooted a fraction of an inch closer. Kat’s breath hitched, but Adena didn’t seem to notice, not lifting her eyes from her hands. “The reason my girlfriend ended it was because she thought I was cheating on her. With you.”

            “But you’re not. That’s ridiculous.” Kat scoffed, even as she forced the image of them together out of her mind. Ridiculous.

            “Of course I told her it was not true, but she did not believe me. She said that I ‘get this faraway look in my eye’ and she knows I’m thinking about you.” Adena smiled with something Kat guessed was close to the ‘faraway look.’ _Beautiful._ “She said I mumbled your name in my sleep.”

            “I—” Kat searched for words but couldn’t find them. “Did you?”

            Adena shrugged, “I was asleep. I do not know. But I told her that you were straight, that she was being absurd, that I never cheated on her, but she would not listen.”

            Adena fell forward, hunching even more. Instinctively, Kat curled around her to rub her back, anything that could make her feel better. “Hey, of course you would never cheat on anyone. She had no right to accuse you of that.”

            Adena nodded, but then that nod turned into a slow steady shake of her head. “I wish I did,” she whispered.

            Kat froze, her eyebrows scrunching together.

            “If I had the chance, I would have. I wouldn’t have felt bad about it either. That makes me a pretty terrible person, doesn’t it?”

            “Hey,” Kat lifted her chin up. “You are not a terrible person. The work you do—it changes the way people see the world, for the better. You don’t mean everything you say right now, you’re upset and angry—”

            Adena pushed her back. “Do not talk to me like I’m some child!”

            Eyes wild and red, Adena’s chest heaved, and Kat felt her heart drop into her stomach. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—I’m sorry.” Would it have been easier if Adena didn’t mean everything she said right now? If Kat could tell herself this halfway flirting didn’t mean anything?

            Then, for the first time that night, Adena looked her right in the eye. “Just tell me you’re straight again.” She demanded, lips pinched, little wisps of hair coming loose from under her hijab. Kat gulped. “Tell me you’re heterosexual.”

            “I—I don’t think I am.”

            A tear slipped free down Adena’s cheek, and Kat had to fight herself not to wipe it away.

            “Then tell me you are not interested in me…that way.”

            Kat’s tongue felt too big for her mouth. “I—”

            “Tell me!”

            “I think I am, though,” Kat breathed, finally regaining the power of speech. “Interested, I mean. In you. A lot.”

            Adena bit her lip and nodded, her eyes falling back to her hands. Every time Kat had seen her before, she had been a pure essence of power and confidence, but now, crumpled and tired, Kat didn’t know if she had ever seen someone more vulnerable.

            “I’m sorry,” Kat finally whispered, not sure what else she could say.

            Adena laughed, “sorry for what?”

            “I don’t know. You just don’t seem very pleased with the fact that I like you.” Kat’s head hurt. Did she know that Adena was so out of her league that it should be impossible they ever were even friends? Yes. Did she know that she came here to comfort her over a breakup that happened _hours_ ago? Yes. But why tell her her girlfriend thought they were seeing each other? Why demand to know if she likes her if she was only to be upset if she did?

            Adena broke the silence. “I—this is not something I am used to.”

            Kat couldn’t help but scoff. “I think that’s my line, right now.”

            “I guess you’re right.” Kat couldn’t stop herself from glancing at her mouth as one lip quirked up in a half-hearted smirk. God, how she wanted to know how those lips would feel against hers. Soft and gentle or passionate and strong? Kat couldn’t decide which was better before Adena went on, “but I do not rush into things. We have known each other for two months? Nia and I had been together for nearly a year. We knew each other for a year before that.”

            “I’m sorry,” Kat interrupted, unable to listen to how happy they had been together. “I’m sorry I ruined everything, okay? But I can’t help the way I feel about you alright? I’ve already tried that.”

            Now it was Kat who let one tear slip over.

            Adena didn’t stop herself where Kat had. Reaching over, brushing it off her cheek, the pad of Adena’s thumb was so soft, Kat had to grip the couch to stop herself from leaning into the touch. “You didn’t ruin anything.” Adena’s breath twirled the loose ringlets of hair around her face, and Kat swore her heart stopped beating. “Do you promise me you’re not straight?”

            “If I feel like this, I promise.”

            “Then kiss me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wow! I can't believe I'm the first one to post a fic for The Bold Type! I can't wait for this fandom to take off. (I'm looking at you, great gay migration.) Please let me know what you thought of the fic!


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